Taking player bonus and promotions @ B&M rooms.

MTDog-7 · #1 08-09-2007, 02:32 PM

Here where I live the Poker tables are plentiful there are about 30 tables in a Town of 65,000 and while we are a regional center we are "over Pokered" compared too other towns in Montana. So to get players several rooms offer a bonus to players. One Room I play offers the starting 9 players $40 chips for $20 buy in on the $1-4 game. The "catch" they "request" 3 1/2 hours of play. Well......after taking the bonus many times getting a nice stack of chips early on and not being able to cash out, then losing I stopped taking the bonus. Monday I SCREWED UP!!!! I went too play for few hours and I took the @#%& bonus. I get a number of nice hands, take down a number pots and 45 minutes after starting I have $230 in chips sitting in front of me. If I had just bought in without the bonus I would have hit the trail and smiled all the way home. But NO I have to play almost another 3 hours.......result cash out $22 up.
So it's back to my rule I broke DON'T TAKE BONUS OR PROMOTION DEAL IF "REQUESTED" play is too long. I go Back Wednesday don't take the bonus buy in $50 play hour and half cash out $180 so $130 profit.

The point of this is just to give a thought to anyone else who has this type of situation. Be careful of PROMO and Bonus deals, make sure they are worth it.

Xhad · #2 08-09-2007, 03:31 PM

If you're a winning poker player, the "requirement" of having to play 3 1/2 hours should be no problem at all. If the game is full of tough players and the occasional fish that is another matter, but still, 10BB in less than 4 hours is still huge.

Hyperrrprank · #3 08-09-2007, 04:04 PM

If playing too long affects your game, certainly don't take the bonus. What you're describing sounds like simple variance, so playing longer doesn't matter at all. Unless your play changes after hour 2 or something, you're going to win/lose the same amount over multiple sessions instead of a single session. What you're doing if that's the case is leaving money on the table.

gobbledygeek · #4 08-09-2007, 05:47 PM

After 700+ hours of 2/4 B&M my winrate is just barely 0.5 BB/hour. This promo would offer me 1.5 BB/hour on top of that. I take that every single time, even against a horrible table (unless there is a retardedly high rake); it's the easiest money I'd ever make.

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